Modular interactive climbing wall system using touch-sensitive, illuminated climbing holds, and controller.

ABSTRACT

A system that uses touch sensitive, illuminated, climbing hold on modular panels to create an interactive environment featuring climbing hold illumination and the ability to detect a climber&#39;s presence on a hold. The system is connected to the internet where it is configured and enables users with a web enabled device to engage in a wide variety of interactive training activities and games.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

None

SEQUENCE LISTING

None

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to play systems, and specifically to aframework for interactive climbing and more particularly to a systemthat creates climbing inspired experiences using illuminated and touchsensitive climbing holds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Family entertainment centers, play structures and other similarfacilities are well known for providing play and interaction among playparticipants playing in, or around the entertainment facilities and/orplay structure. Climbing structures are a key component of thesefacilities.

Indoor or “gym” climbing on artificial structures has evolved from thetraditional outdoor sport of rock climbing where climbers ascend naturalboulders and rock faces. The significant increase in the number ofclimbing gyms is largely attributed to their convenience, safety, andproximity to residential areas.

Indoor climbing walls are usually built from prefabricated fake-rockpanels or textured plywood sheets that have regularly spaced holes andare attached to a metal or wood framework. The walls are attached to thebuilding's structure at both the base and the top so that they arestable and don't move or flex. While most walls are vertical, some wallshave horizontal overhangs or sections that are other than 90° from thefloor. Indoor climbing walls range in height from 10 to 50 feet.

Climbing holds are made of resin poured into molds of varying shapes andsizes from tiny edges to giant hand-sized buckets. The holds are boltedonto the wall's threaded holes using cap end hex bolts to providesupport and/or a gripping place for the climber to ascend or traversethe wall.

With the holds attached to the wall, designers create climbingactivities by selecting a subset of the holds. Typically, theseactivities are defined by homogeneously colored holds, distinctlycolored tape, or chalk marks. However, each of these methods has itsdrawbacks: buying same color holds for each activity is prohibitivelyexpensive, inflexible, and does not allow for overlapping activities;tape tends to peel off; and chalk is easily erased when climbers rubagainst the marks. Furthermore, each of these methods are static andrequire human interaction to set or alter an activity's pattern.

Another issue with traditional indoor climbing activities is that whencompared to other leisure activities, they can be boring. Without aninteractive component, or game mechanic, climbers often tire of‘climbing plastic’. This issue becomes even more important in locationsthat cater to children where providing an engaging experience isessential. There is always demand for more exciting and entertainingplay structures and play toys which increase the learning andentertainment opportunities for children.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,954, entitled “Route Recording, Marking, and ScoringApparatus for Sport Climbing Walls”, issued Mar. 31, 1998 to Strickleret al. teaches a system to record and identify routes created onartificial climbing structures. However, light source of '954 patent iscompletely separated and independent from the climbing holds andrequires significant alteration of the climbing wall to install thesystem.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,954 A discloses a climbing wall comprising holdswhich detect the weight of a climber. Signals from weighted holds aretransmitted to a computer which stores the route chosen by the climber.Electronically activated markers positioned adjacent to each hold thenindicate the holds comprising this specific route. A new climber can tryto follow this specific route by using indicated holds, but if the newclimber uses an “illegal” hold which is not indicated, and thus is notincluded in the route, this is registered by the computer. However, thissystem requires specially designed holds with attached weight sensors.

U.S. Pat. Application 2008/0032863 discloses a climbing wall systemcomprising a climbing wall provided with several holds, each connectedto a respective sensor which is arranged to detect the presence of afoot or a hand on the hold, where said system comprises a sound systemarranged to play music, and a control device arranged to receive signalsof the sensors and control the sound system to play a certain musicalfragment when a particular hold is touched. While this system doesprovide an interactive indoor climbing component, it depends uponindividual capacitive touch sensors at each hold attachment point.

U.S. Pat. No. 2010/0004098, entitled “Illuminated rock-climbing hold”,issued Jul. 7, 2008 to Joshua A. Hensley describes an illuminatedclimbing hold. However, the light source in the '4098 is completelyenclosed in the climbing hold.

Applicant submits that there is no system found in the marketplace thatallows for the creation of an interactive climbing wall with illuminatedtouch sensitive holds using modular components attached to a uniformmounting system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a novel interactive climbing wall systemfeaturing modular panels with illuminated and touch sensitive climbingholds. The modular climbing wall panels are affixed to a wall using auniform mounting system. Panels can operate independently, or becombined to create an interactive environment to deliver climbingspecific activities, games, or aesthetic illumination.

Each panel is self-contained and controls the illumination of its holdsand the processing of touch information. Panels receive their contentand instructions though a local server that, in turn, receivesinformation from a cloud-based server. The control software enables aplurality of panels to function as a single entity. Panels arecontrolled by commands initiated by a kiosk, or mobile device.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A clear understanding of the key features of the invention summarizedabove may be had by reference to the appended drawings, which illustratethe method and system of the invention, although it will be understoodthat such drawings depict preferred embodiments of the invention and,therefore, are not to be considered as limiting its scope with regard toother embodiments which the invention is capable of contemplating.Accordingly:

FIG. 1: is a representative front view of one embodiment of a panel withaffixed illuminating, touch sensitive, climbing holds.

FIG. 2: is a representative back view of one embodiment of a panel withcorresponding wire and control components.

FIG. 3: is a representative diagram of one embodiment of a pluralitypanels affixed to the support structure to create a climbing wall.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The description that follows is presented to enable one skilled in theart to make and use the present invention, and is provided in thecontext of a particular application and its requirements. Variousmodifications to the disclosed embodiments will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the general principals discussed below may beapplied to other embodiments and applications without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments disclosed, but the inventionis to be given the largest possible scope which is consistent with theprincipals and features described herein.

It will be understood that in the event parts of different embodimentshave similar functions or uses, they may have been given similar oridentical reference numerals and descriptions. It will be understoodthat such duplication of reference numerals is intended solely forefficiency and ease of understanding the present invention, and are notto be construed as limiting in any way, or as implying that the variousembodiments themselves are identical.

FIG. 1 is a representative front view of one embodiment of a modularpanel (1) that is comprised of a plurality of climbing holds (4) affixedto the panel with a bolt (5). Illumination of holds is achieved by usingholds molded with a translucent polymer that is illuminated by a numberof daisy-chained RGB LEDs (2) that are inset into the panel underneaththe hold. A sheet of conductive material (3) may be positioned under theclimbing hold (4) to enhance the capacitance of the hold.

FIG. 2 is a representative back view of one embodiment of a modularpanel (1) where the holds on the panel are daisy-chained (6) to eachother with the chain beginning at the panel's control unit (8). Wires(7) connect the climbing holds (4) to the control unit (8).

FIG. 3 is a representative diagram depicting panels affixed to the wallusing the mounting flanges (10).

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1—Panel-   2—RGB LED light source and inset-   3—Optional conductive material to enhance hold capacitance-   4—Translucent climbing hold-   5—Bolt-   6—Power/data cable for LEDs-   7—Capacitive touch transmission wires-   8—Panel control unit-   9—Panel-   10—Panel flange

Operation

Installation

Mounting flanges are attached to a wall using appropriate fasteners.Once installed, panels are powered using a standard power supply. Oncepowered, the panels automatically associate themselves with the localserver. Once associated, the rest of the configuration is done through awebsite.

Configuration

With the panels online, the system configuration is done through awebsite.

Usage

With a wall of panels, users will use a kiosk or their web enabledmobile device to dynamically select an activity or game that is thenilluminated by the holds on the panels.

1. An illuminated rock climbing hold comprising: A translucent holdmolded into a desired shape with, an ability to flush mount the hold toa desired climbing surface with recess that contains a light source,whereby said light source will light up said translucent hold.
 2. Atouch sensitive rock climbing hold comprising: A climbing hold thatconveys changes in capacitance associated with a climber touching saidclimbing hold, or the bolt is affixing the hold to the climbing wall. 3.An interactive climbing wall system for entertaining one or more playparticipants, comprising: a number of modular climbing wall panelelements with a plurality of illuminated and touch sensitive climbingholds as defined in claim 1 and claim 2 situated in a play environment;an electronic system that interfaces with the modular climbing wallpanel elements and exchanges data with the modular climbing wall panelelements, the exchanged data comprising game play experience, playerlocation, game progress, and/or performance;
 4. The system as defined inclaim 3, wherein the exchanged data further comprises one or moreclimbing wall panel element parameters that correspond to the playparticipant's progress, performance, ability level and/or a particularsubset of said climbing wall panel elements to which the playparticipant is allowed to access or play next in completing the desiredplay experience.
 5. The system as defined in claim 3, wherein saidelectronic system comprises an electronic tracking system, a computerand a software program configured and adapted to track the locations andactivities said play participants and to adjust the play experience foreach play participant based on stored data indicating where the playparticipant has been, what objectives that play participant hasaccomplished and how many points and/or levels have been reached.
 6. Amethod for facilitating an interactive play experience for one or moreplay participants, comprising the steps of: providing a portableidentifier for each said play participant, said identifier providing aunique identification for each play participant and/or each group ofplay participants working together; using said identifier to track theplay activities and/or performance of each associated play participantand/or group of play participants; recording each play participant's oreach said group of play participants' performance in the play elements;and modifying the play experience and/or controlling access to a set ofplay elements to which the participant may proceed based on the recordedperformance.